A year ago, Hugh Freeze and Ole Miss signed a recruiting class that caused head turning from the SEC to the Pac-12. It created a buzz. And it was a sensation that wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to the Rebels, or to Freeze.

Ed Orgeron compiled a high-end class in 2006, but he could never turn it into wins. Freeze was on that staff, as an administrator and then an assistant, so he has seen firsthand that recruiting alone will not save a staff. Freeze has won 15 games in his first two seasons, an establishment of moderate success but success that must be built upon in one of the country’s toughest divisions.

Vegas, for one, is a believer that 2014 will be the year the Rebels will rise. A team that has gone 3-5 in the SEC in Freeze’s first two seasons is 40-1 to win the national title, according to the Las Vegas Hotel.

Nkemdiche was the jewel of Freeze’s top-five haul, a Clemson flip the Rebels hoped would provide an immediate impact. He did, starting 10 games and collecting 34 tackles (8.5 for a loss). But only six of those games were starts at his recruited position, defensive end.

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

Travis Haney

Travis Haney joined ESPN in April 2012 as Insider's national college football writer. He previously covered the University of Oklahoma Sooners for The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman for one season, and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks for The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier for four. Additionally, Haney has contributed since 2003 to ESPN publications and projects, including ESPN The Magazine.

A native of Cleveland, Tenn., Haney's initial introduction to a college football cathedral was Neyland Stadium. He later graduated from the University of Tennessee, in 2003, and has spent time covering the Volunteers, the University of Georgia, Clemson University, and other schools. Safe to say, football, and football in the South, was injected into his bloodstream at a young age.

Haney is the author of three books -- Gamecock Glory and Gamecock Encore, which chronicled the South Carolina baseball team's run to the 2010 and 2011 national championships, and State of Disunion, a historical look at the Clemson-South Carolina football rivalry that he co-wrote with Larry Williams.